By Marisa Wiesman 

There are, literally, millions of people who qualify for free civil legal aid in Illinois. But once you venture outside of Cook County, there are only a handful of organizations dedicated to providing free civil legal aid to people who cannot afford an attorney. In all but a few counties, there is just one organization that provides these services. When that organization is unable to help someone due to a conflict of interest, that low-income person usually has nowhere else to turn for legal help. These conflicts are not limited to family law matters. Conflicts arise across the range of issues legal aid organizations handle, including housing, consumer, and public benefits matters.

It seems that every attorney appends boilerplate disclaimers — sometimes lengthy ones — at the bottom of emails. For many, it may be a standard footer the entire firm uses. For others, it might be something borrowed from another lawyer. Whatever the value of these disclaimers in general, many still contain some language that is not only unnecessary but inaccurate in its most familiar form — the IRS Circular 230 disclaimer.

Join us via the Internet on March 19, 2018 for this informative program that presents an update on legislation and case law in the area of traffic law. Traffic law practitioners, criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, general practitioners, and young attorneys with basic and intermediate experience who attend this seminar will better understand: the new traffic and driver’s license legislation from the recent session of the Illinois General Assembly; how these legislative changes will impact your clients and your law practice; the latest DUI and summary suspension case law including People v. Ida Way[1] and cases regarding the admissibility of the preliminary breath test; and much more!

Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. I am a new non-equity partner in a 16-attorney firm in Phoenix, Arizona. My equity partners are telling me that I have to do more than generate billable hours and perform quality work for clients. They now expect me to bring in clients. Where do I start?

A. I often advise attorneys that while what you know is important what you want to be known for is more important. Just having your name known is pretty useless unless it is known for something. For example, it is best to be known as an outstanding personal injury plaintiff lawyer – not just a good lawyer. In law firms it is the reputation for expertise that matters, not just the reputation. Therefore, a successful marketing program must project and demonstrate expertise. This can be accomplished in the following ways:

Illinois voters are responsible for electing and retaining judges. To assist them in making informed decisions, ISBA provides information about the qualifications of judicial candidates and judges seeking retention. Lawyers who practice alongside candidates and judges are in a unique position to assess the professional qualities that are necessary for good judges. 

In anticipation of the March 20 primary election, judicial evaluations, poll results, candidate biographies, and information about Cook County's 15 subcircuits are now available.

• View results by county
• Results for all counties (except Cook) in one file
• Cook County Judicial Evaluations
• Cook County Narratives
• Information about Cook County Subcircuits

Every few years, the Illinois State Bar Association organizes an admission ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court. There are still spaces available to join ISBA members for admission to the Supreme Court of the United States on June 4, 2018, in Washington D.C.

A reception will be held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel on Sunday, June 3, and on Monday, there will be a continental breakfast prior to the group admission ceremony at the United States Supreme Court Building.

To be eligible, you must be:

• An active lawyer member of the ISBA
• Admitted to practice for more than three years
• Have no adverse disciplinary action pronounced or in effect during that three-year period 

Interested applicants must complete the Application for Admission to Practice, which is available in the Application Packet on the ISBA Group Admission Ceremony page.

Contact Kim Weaver with any questions.

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of February 2018 there were over 800 referrals given.

Here are the results for February 2018:

The Bohemian Lawyers' Scholarship Fund, a a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, awards scholarships to students of Czech, Moravian, Ruthenian, Silesian or Slovak ancestry enrolled in an accredited law school in the greater Chicagoland area every April.Scholarships range from $2,500 to $5,000 and to date, 110 scholarships have been given.

Applications are now being accepted for a judicial vacancy in the Thirteenth Subcircuit of Cook County, according to an announcement made by the Illinois Supreme Court. The vacancy was created by the resignation of Circuit Judge Margarita Kulys Hoffman, which took effect December 31, 2017.